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Mexican immigrants: the lowest paid and least qualified in the United States

According to a study conducted by a bank

Workers inspecting fruit trees at one of the fields in Coachella, California. Efe archive

by EFE Agency

December 6 2012

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According to a study released yesterday by the bank BBVA in Mexico, Mexicans living in the United States have the lowest levels of education and income compared to immigrants from other countries.

The study was conducted by the banks Economic Research Department, and indicated that 43% of Mexican immigrants between the ages of 15 and 64 have less than 10 grades of schooling completed, which is a figure that does not exceed 10% in the case of citizens from Canada, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the regions of Oceania.

On average Central Americans "have higher levels of education", and that only 37% of immigrants from this region between the ages of 15 to 64 have less than 10 grades of schooling completed, but 10% are professionals and have a postgraduate degree, a figure that is barely 6% among Mexicans.

Mexicans in the United States on average earn less money than other immigrant groups, which is usually explained by the low levels of schooling.

Now by gender Mexican men with lower education levels are paid "much higher" than women, on an average three times higher with only 10 grades or less of schooling completed, but when both genders have a postgraduate degree and are much younger this is completely the opposite.

In terms of employment the document highlights that Latinos as a whole have recovered the jobs lost during the economic crisis and are in "historic highs," and that Mexicans are still well below the pre-recession level.

BBVA experts attributed the initiatives launched against undocumented immigrants in the United States, like the ones in Arizona, affected more Mexicans than any other groups.

"60% of immigrants in the United States are Mexican" and "over 50% of these Mexican immigrants are undocumented," they said.

They also noted that "the jobs in the United States in more demand are higher-skilled jobs," but "Mexicans continue to offer their labor in low-skilled work" and low wages.

In 2012 there are approximately 6.2 million workers in the U.S. with less than 10 grades of schooling completed, according to the report 46.6% of them were Mexican immigrants.

An estimated 12 million Mexicans live in the U.S. and half of them are undocumented, not including their children who were born on U.S. soil.